Research Reports

The following research reports were issued recently by investment firms. Many may be obtained through Thomson Financial at www.thomson.com/financial or 800-638-8241. Some are available in the company research area of The Wall Street Journal Online at WSJ.com, or through Factiva.com. Some of the reports' issuers have provided, or hope to provide, investment-banking or other services for the companies being analyzed.

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering
- ASX-NYSE Buy - Price 6.02 on April 17 by Merriman Curhan Ford ASE is the [No. 1] provider of semiconductor-manufacturing services in assembly and test. [It said] the Carlyle group bid was too low...[at] $5.98 per American depositary receipt, work[ing] out to 8.5 times enterprise value to trailing free cash flow, versus average of 19.5 times for group's other major players...fundamentals are getting better. ASE intends to pay 15% stock dividend and small cash dividend [pending approval].

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers
- JOSB-NNM Buy - Price 37.20 on April 17 by Sterne Agee JOSB reported Q4 results at $1.36, up 32.4%; our projection was $1.24, consensus, $1.25. The firm plans to open 50 stores this year. We are again raising our target price, from 40 to 46, implying the shares would trade at 15 times our forward estimate [versus last] four years' average, 14.9 to 16.4 times.

DirecTV Group
- DTV-NYSE EchoStar Communications
- DISH-NNM Neutral - Price DTV 23.97; DISH 46.91 on April 17 by Cowen & Co. We are upgrading our ratings on DTV and DISH to Neutral, from Underperform. We believe that the competitive threats underlying our prior view of the stocks remain substantial. In fact, we expect telcos' penetration of the video market to increase substantially in 2007...However, we now believe the cash-flow-growth potential for DTV and DISH, combined with recapitalization possibilities, can offset the competitive risks in the near-term, supporting stocks near their current levels.

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